


Answer your calling

by TrifectaIII



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Horrorterrors - Freeform, Runaway, by riley
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 18:42:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14816780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrifectaIII/pseuds/TrifectaIII
Summary: Sometimes people are given tasks by their bosses, friends, or family.  Sometimes, however, they are assigned by something much bigger than that, and much more persuasive.And sometimes, you have no option but to say yes.In which a girl leaves her comfortable home in the middle of the woods to pursue...something.  She has no idea what it is, only that it is important, and that if she didn't, something bad would happen.-Riley





	1. Outward

TapTapTapTapTap

She kept her footsteps as light as she could, running as fast as she dared. Trees whipped by as fast as her feet carried her, shoes smacking against the cracked highway concrete. It never seemed to end, and the shadows seemed to reach out for her, dark tendrils catching at the edges of her skirt. She feared that in her haste, her very method of escape would betray her. 

Slowly the nightmare abated. The shadowy realm of the trees became benign once again, and the presence she had felt pressing on her back retreated. As the fear gripping her pounding heart faded to a dull ache, she slowed to a trot. Though her assailant was no longer in pursuit, she dared not stop until she was out of the open. It had eyes in everything, and a voice in her own, though she did not know it yet.

 

 

She had been traveling on foot for days, maybe weeks. When your nights are plagued by horrible visions of creatures of incomprehensible form and all encompassing fear and pain, you tend to avoid sleep, which makes the passage of time all the more elusive. Last night she had resigned herself to another nightmare being that she was nearly about to pass out on her feet. It had been less horrifying than others. 

Months, she had been having those… “dreams”. These incessant night terrors. At first she could not be bothered. It was merely a couple nights a week that she would wake up screaming, though the frequency increased, along with her unrest. When she began to see these horrorterrors, as she called them, in her waking life, something akin to resignation held her. She knew she needed to flee.

The first few days were rough. She doubted everything from her packing skills to her sanity. As the days wore on, however, she became more focused. She needed to get to her end point, wherever that might be. If her packing skills were in question, she knew enough about edible plants to survive, if it was her sanity that was lost, well, it hardly mattered in the end. At least not to her. 

Three, maybe four, more days of travel on winding, remote, forest roads brought her to a decently sized town, nearly a city, and with that a chance for real shelter and a hot meal that wasn’t heated beans in a can. She sighed in relief when the first few buildings poked through the dense trees. Though the forest was gorgeous, there was the slight prickle of paranoia at the back of her neck for her whole journey so far. A silent voice telling her to keep walking, keep moving, don’t stop until you reach your end. It was as if she was still being pursued like in her dream. She wondered for a moment if it was in some way prophetic, but shook off the thought. In addition to the urge to escape from an unknown force, prophetic dreams were just too much to be real. And the cracked concrete road and dense forest underbrush could have been part of any remote mountain highway in the state.

She arrived on main street just past dusk. Streetlights flickered on with the growing darkness, illuminating the sidewalks below. She knew this town. Her mother had taken her there often as a child, but that was before they had begun to avoid each other. As road trips grew more quiet and tense, they also began to taper off, with the unfortunate side effect of leaving her to her own devices. And alone.

However, it was not the isolation that bothered her. The wilderness that surrounded her lavish home, and waterfall that ran beneath supplying them with water and power, were both gorgeous. She loved to spend time walking among the trees. She also had managed to make a small handful of good friends online who she genuinely cared for, and she had found a lovely little clearing not far past her yard where she enjoyed writing or reading, sometimes she played violin. She was careful not to stray too far and tempt fate. This far into the mountains, no one was around save for her mother, and there was always a chance that she was either drunk, or holed away in her lab. Which means were she in trouble, no one would come to her aid. What bothered her was, over the years, the gifts and praise showered on her by her mother began to feel hollow in a way. As a child, she had reveled in it. Indeed it had raised her confidence, but there was no real warmth behind it. A mere facade of a mother, beneath which lied an affluent roommate who insisted on paying the rent. 

As she walked further into downtown, the buildings grew taller and closer together. Really the only indication she was downtown was that there were more establishments than there were houses. None of the buildings exceeded 5 storeys at the most, with most keeping around two or three. Pausing at the corner of one of the taller buildings she looked around. She had enough access to money to stay wherever she pleased, but a nagging feeling told her she needed to walk down the quiet side road and tugged at her gut, so she did.

The sky was darkening, and stars began to shine. As she walked, she had to rely more and more on the dim yellow street lamps along the sidewalk. Though she was close to downtown, the street she was on felt abandoned in some respects, or at least slightly shady. There were cracks , some of which were patched with tar, and potholes filled with crumbling asfault, as if attempts to repair it were few and far between. 

She continued until she arrived in front of a brick building. For its run down appearance and location, it boasted an impressive height (for the town) of four storeys. The front was unassuming and plain, with all the charm of an old pub turned seedy dive bar, complete with overflowing ashtray on the step. She looked up at the wooden door, it was set a foot deep in the wall, with a single large bay window to the right, and a hanging metal cutout sign above it that read “Derse, hotel and bar”. It seemed to be an unassuming place, the kind that hosted mostly regular locals and the occasional backpacker such as herself. She adjusted her bag, stepping up the worn smooth steps, and pushed open the door.

A little brass bell chimed as she entered and the warm smell of food reached her nose. Walking towards the counter, she noted a slight lull in conversation, but only for a second, picking back up again once the patrons took in the new arrival. A news caster droned on in the background from a small tube T.V in the corner, and pleasant music played from scattered speakers mounted on the walls. 

“Um, excuse me sir, hello?” She said, gently ringing the bell to attract the attention of the bartender. 

“’Scuse me a moment Carl.” He said, clapping a man in flannel on the shoulder. He slid down the counter til he reached her and smiled warmly. He seemed pleasant. He was around average height with a thin build and a wide, inviting smile. His dark skin held a stark contrast against the pristine white of his shirt, and his hair was neatly groomed, cropped short at the sides and back, fading into a styled mess of tight curls on top. His name tag read only “Earl”. “Hello lil miss, what can I do for ya?”

She tugged at the straps of her backpack, not quite so used to human interaction that wasnt punctuated by long absences and pseudo sweet gestures left for her to find. “I was wondering who I might speak to regarding a room and a meal.” She saw no other employees or counters, though this one was front and center, with a cash register and the official feeling overly tall stature characteristic of some hotels. It was long though, and gave way to a more average height a yard to her right to accommodate the bar counter and stools. 

“That would be me! The owner of this fine establishment.” He said. She nodded and tugged the chain of her wallet so it fell from her pocket. No one had told her chains were not cool anymore, and she valued the safety of her money too much to care anyway. “Pleasure to meet ya, im Earl Derse, like on the sign, you can call me Earl, or Mr. D if ya want. What were you lookin’ for? We’ve got three kinds of rooms. First is economy, seconds is deluxe, and third is what I call ‘first class’.”

She thought for a moment. Her mother was extremely well to do due to the sales of her books, and she had a card, so she did not have to resign herself to something described as “economy”, which promised to be small and cramped based on everything else she had heard under that designation. “Could you describe to me the ‘deluxe’ and ‘first class’ rooms please?”

“’Course, now in deluxe you’ve got a decent sized room, double bed, mini fridge, separate bathroom with a tub. Theres a wall mounted T.V even. They’re all on the second floor, with a few on the third. For ‘first class’ youve got a “living space” with a couch and a T.V on one side a’ the room, and a cozy kitchen area on the other with counters, cabinets, a mini fridge, and even an oven and stove. Theres a separate bed room, a large bathroom, and a balcony. We’ve only got two of ‘em though, but neither are occupied at the moment.” He crossed his arms leisurely on the counter, his amicable smile returning to his face.

She opened the snaps on her wallet with a click and pulled out the no-limit credit card her mother had given her for emergencies. She doubted her mother would notice or care if she bought a Lamborghini, let alone a hotel in a small town, she would most likely assume she had run off on a typical teenage rebellion adventure and consider herself a wonderful mother for allowing that kind of self expression. Whatever got her out of the duties of guardianship. “I suppose I will take the ‘first class’ suite. How much will that be Mr. Derse?” She thought it rather unorthadox to not supply the price when describing the rooms, but it mattered little to her. She made a mental note to send her mother a post card every now and then so she would know she was not dead. She did not want her mission to be cut short by the fake concern of an absent mother. Not that she didn't love her, but she would rather be fleeing only one entity at a time. Preferably the one without internet and connections in expensive places.

“Excellent choice!” Mr. Derse pulled a key from behind him and clipped it to a paper card with a line beneath a number. “Cost is $85 a night for the first class suite, and just for the formality, you’re 21 right?”

She was actually merely 18, an adult but still a dependent of her mother, though she was told by friends online that she could pass for older if she wanted, especially with how she spoke and carried herself. She smiled lightly, “Yes, I am. I am used to people assuming I am much younger. Though I suppose I should be flattered.” trying a gentle chuckle, she held up the credit card. “Credit please”

Luckily, that was good enough for Mr. Derse. He nodded and placed a card reader on the counter along with the key. She reached for it but Mr. Derse stopped her. “Hold on there, gotta enter the info, how long will ya’ be stayin’ with us?” He shifted to face the register display and waited for her response. 

“I expect to only remain for one night, though if I require more time I will let you know when I know.”

“Alrighty!” He punched some things into the register, humming a soft tune. “Just one last thing and the room’s all yours, whats your name? And if ya’ could write it on your keys card that’d be great!” he said, pulling a pen from his shirt pocket and placing it next to the key.

She picked up the pen and slid the key closer to her so she could reach the card attached to it easier. “Rose Lalonde”


	2. Onwards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A warm meal, a friendly face.  
> What will come of it all?

Rose sat at a table along the wall nearly adjacent to the window, facing towards the door. Her bags were in her room, #2, carried up by a girl not much younger than her. She had learned that she was Mr. Derse’s god-daughter, Jemma. Strangely enough they had numbered the rooms backwards. Mr. Derse said that it made customers with deeper pockets feel more important, though Rose suspected it was out of a now long forgotten accident at the buildings construction.

Now that she was unburdened by bags or time for the time being, she was free to take in the rest of the room while she waited for the food she had ordered. It was a decent size, wider than it was deep, and dimly lit by soft orange light coming from fixtures placed evenly along the walls designed to resemble candle sconces. The whole thing was finished in (or made of, if you took into account the apparent age of the building) real wood and brass accents. To the left of the door, there was a waiting lounge furnished with a scratched wooden coffee table surrounded by a short black couch and two mismatched green armchairs. On the wall farthest left there were assorted decorations hanging from the wall, photographs, a couple paintings, and some old metal signs and license plates arranged randomly, with a taxidermy doe head high up and centered on the wall. On the other two walls there were a set of wide bookshelves laden with books and interesting trinkets such as glittery stones, plants, and animal skulls. 

Directly adjacent the door was the tall counter that continued to the right into a full bar. Just to the left was a hallway where she had watched Jemma take her bags, and assumed it lead to the rest of the hotel and the kitchen. 

The rest of the room was unremarkable, scattered tables and chairs furnished it, with a pool table to the far right and more eccentric photographs and decorations hung on the walls. A taxidermy buck hung above the pool table as a counterpart to the doe in the other half of the room. 

A painting next to her caught her attention. It was small and depicted a less than standard game of chess. The board was comprised of 9 squares total, and instead of a full set, the only two pieces on the board were two kings. The background was equally as minimal, a simple blue sky with fluffy white clouds. It was a game no one could win, were it real. An eternal standoff against two equally as powerful, yet flawed, forces. Each could only move one space at a time, and the only way anyone would win was through forfeit by stepping into the center square. Though she got the feeling no one would take that path, despite the futility of the game. In the corner Rose noticed a small signature and title in white ink, almost invisible against the pale sky blue and clouds. It read “The perfect game”. In keeping with a lot of artists, the signature was nearly illegible and gave away little clues as to the actual identity of the artist, but she thought it said something like “Doc Scratch”, though she could be wrong, who has a name like that, after all?

Jemma snapped her out of her reverie with a plate of hot inviting food. “Here’s your food miss Lalonde, can I get ya’ a refill?” she asked, setting the plate down in front of Rose and gesturing to her empty mug of tea.

“Thank you, and yes please, if it wouldn’t be much trouble.” She replied.

Jemma smiled and took her mug. “No trouble at all! i’ll be right back with it.” She trotted off, her long loose curls bouncing behind her, tied in a ponytail.

 

The food was simple, fried eggs, a slab of ham, and some thickly cut buttered toast. Rose had opted for the breakfast menu. After days of heated beans and Campbells chunky soup, however, this was practically of divine origin. In comparison, at least.

Just as she placed one of the eggs on a slice of toast, she heard the bell above the door chime gently. Curiosity and a gut feeling lead her to put her toast down and look up to see a tall, yet hunched over boy walk in. He wore a black backpack, a dark red hoodie with the hood up and strange stains on the elbows and cuffs, dark sunglasses, scuffed up sketchers, and ripped black jeans. He had an average build and what she could see of his face and hair was both very pale. He stood in front of the door for a moment, taking in the room. His face turned towards rose and they, she assumed, locked eyes for a moment until the door shutting behind him startled him enough to approach the counter. He seemed young, perhaps her age, though she could not be certain. She was, however, certain that she needed to talk with him. She felt as if she knew him, and that somehow, in some way, he was important to her mission.

She decided to watch and wait. He was soft spoken to where she could only hear Mr. Derse from her spot in the room. Eventually, he pulled some notes out of his pocket, the edges frayed. At this she got up and walked over. She was not sure what she planned to do from there but she could not let him pay for his own room just as much as she could not let her only opportunity to talk to him pass. From his appearance she could tell she was a decent bit more well off than he was. And if his body language and full backpack were any indication, he only had access to the little cash that he had on him. A runaway. Like her, she supposed. 

As she approached she smiled warmly and stuck her hand out towards him. “Hello there, my name is Rose. Pardon my interruption, but you seem intriguing, and I have a proposition.”

He startled a bit when she spoke to him and turned to look at her, his mouth pressed in a thin line betraying his uncertainty. She could not see the rest of his expression as his eyes were covered by dark sunglasses just slightly too large for his face, even in this dim light. Slowly he reached out and shook her hand once curtly. “...Dave.” He let go and shoved his hand back into his hoodie. He seemed to be eying her, trying to judge her motivations. “..What do ya’ mean by proposition?” 

Rose noticed a slight drawl to his voice, he was far from home. 

Suspicion was to be expected, after all, she was a strange girl, wearing multiple days old dirty clothes that even through the grime betrayed their high price, walking up to him in a strange hotel lobby slash bar and offering him something. “Nothing binding or requiring anything of you, save for suspending your suspicion of my motives long enough for a conversation.” Rose turned to the side and gestured to her table just past the end of the bar. “Before you pay for anything, could I offer to buy you a meal for your time?” She prayed that whatever this was would work. She had not yet decided what she was doing, but her current path felt right somehow, she felt as if she needed this to work, so what more was there to do but continue?

Dave shifted uncomfortably, his left hand worrying at the money he was still holding. “...Yeah I guess so, why not. What could it hurt?” he asked, more to himself than Rose. He turned to the counter. “Sorry Mr. uhh… Earl. I’ll be back in a bit.” he said, putting the money back in his pocket.

“Sure thing”

Rose smiled at Dave and then turned to Mr. Derse. “Sir, when do you retire for the night? I wouldn’t like to keep this young man from procuring accommodations inadvertently by keeping him too long.”

“No worries lil’ lady! That should be ‘round when I close up the bar, about 2am tonight.” he responded cheerfully.

She looked at the clock on the wall behind Mr. Derse. 10:54pm. There was plenty of time. “Excellent, thank you.” Turning to dave once more, she smiled lightly. “Shall we?”

“Yeah sure” he mumbled, following her to the table. 

He sat down across from Rose just as Jemma appeared with her mug of tea, a cutlery set and a menu as if she knew Dave was dining with her by magic. Mr. Derse had probably told her through the walkie talkie on her hip though. “Can I get you something to drink?” she asked Dave.

“Uhh yeah. Do ya’ have apple juice?” he asked. 

“Yep! Got soft cider too.”

“Just juice is fine, thanks.” He quirked his lips into a soft smile that Jemma returned as she left. Turning back to Rose and pulling his hood down revealing messy platinum blond hair, the smile faded. “So, uh, thanks for buyin’ me dinner an’ all, but why?”

Rose touched her lips thoughtfully. “Hmm, no idea. I suppose I will know once I finish speaking, hopefully. Gut feelings can always prove to be dead ends though. Or indigestion.”

Dave leaned against the table, obviously not following. “You always this flighty?” he asked, playing with the corner of the menu he was looking at.

“Sometimes.”

After a moment Dave spoke up again. “So like, how much a’ your money should I be spending right now?” he gestured to the paper in front of him.

Rose shrugged. “As much as you want”

His eyebrows shot above his shades. “Wait, seriously?”

“Yes”

“What if I wanted to order like, the steak or something, even that?”

“Yes, even the steak.” she smiled and cut a piece off her ham, observing Daves reactions. He wasn’t shy, though he seemed unused to strangers buying him things. She wasn’t sure that was a common occurrence anyway, so perhaps no one is used to it.

Rose waited until Dave had gotten his food (The steak) and was eating with her before bringing up what she originally approached him for. Small talk aside now, she decided it was a good time. “So, Dave. So you believe in...” she fumbled for the right words. “For lack of a better term. Magic?”

With a mouth full of steak, he raised an eyebrow at her. “Ya’ mean like, fucking uhhh, witches and shit? You a witch?” he said, mouth still full.

She rolled her eyes. “No, I do not think I am a witch.”

“Long black skirt, lookin’ like ya’ just stumbled out of the woods, those eyes. What are they, purple? Jesus I thought I was weird.”

“Hazel, and yes I did just come from the woods. I live days… perhaps a week.. from here on foot in the middle of of the forest.”

“Wait you WALKED?” He put his fork down. “As in straight up walked from your crazy hermit house in the middle of the damn forest in the mountains to this town in the middle of ass nowhere oregon? In that outfit? Darlin’ I may be a vagrant but I know designer when I see it.”

Rose chuckled, Dave seemed to warm up to her, which was nice. “Yes, I walked.”

“Now what on Gods green earth compelled you to do THAT.” he said, hacking more bits off his steak.

“Well, I think that is what I wish to talk to you about. I asked if you believe in magic, though magic may not be the appropriate wording. I think I mean something more along the lines of, do you believe in the idea that there may be powerful forces at work beyond comprehension and beyond the typical humans capability to influence?” she paused. She had never tried to quantify it before, as she had refused to record any of her nightterrors in her dream journal for some reason. “I mean not as a god, but as a… an eldritch abomination, I suppose, something ancient and dark with incomprehensible reach.”

Dave chewed thoughtfully. “Yeah I guess. Depends. What about it?” 

She put a piece of ham in her mouth and let silence take over the conversation for a moment as she thought. What did she mean, exactly? Where was she going with this? She was not exactly sure. Probably her best bet was to recount the past few months of nightterrors, and her reasoning for leaving home, and then her reasoning for approaching Dave. “Well, This may seem crazy but I would ask you to bear with me.” She waited a moment, and when Dave nodded she took a breath and continued. “So I suppose I should start from the beginning. Months ago I began to have these dreams. Nothing too troublesome, only a few nights a week I would wake up terrified, and it always quickly faded once I realized I was safely in my bed. But then the frequency increased to every night, and then to every time I tried to sleep.””

“So you had a few freaky dreams?”

“I guess, though I am not done.” Dave nodded and put a particularly large bite of steak into his mouth. “It is less the fact I had the dreams, and more the dreams themselves. In the beginning, when they were less frequent, I was floating in an incomprehensibly still void, inky black with not a single star, the only thing that betrayed where I was was the glowing green and blue marble in the distance that I could only assume was the earth, though there was no sun or moon.”

“Thathe, the fimal fuontier” Dave said around his mouthful.

“Indeed. But that is not all. I could hear nothing. Absolute silence, but that silence was broken by an incredibly distorted.. call. Something, no, someone was trying to get my attention. I could almost feel their breath on my neck, but when I turned around there was nothing, at the moment. It felt as if there was something behind me, and just as the panic began to set in, a tendril of the complete blackness surrounding me broke off and snaked up my leg betraying just how close to it I was. The last thing I remember from those dreams were me looking towards earth and screaming as the tendrils wrapped around my face.”

Dave swallowed the last bite of meat on his plate and started playing with the potatos, pushing them around. “Sounds kinda freaky, so what does this have to do with me? Like, there’s gotta be a reason you’re tellin’ me your deep dark personal dreams that fron the sound of it could possibly be just ya discoverin a long repressed kink.”

“I am getting to that, hopefully.” She ignored the kink comment.

“Hopefully?”

“Well, yes. I admit I am going off instinct here.” She sipped her tea before continuing. “I dealt with it just fine, though soon they began happening more often, and every night I was closer and closer to the earth until one night I was in the sky above the forest that housed me, though it was daytime, the sky was not blue. It was as inky black as the void I was in the first time, and I had a front row seat to the shadows curling around the horizon and through the trees like a living flood, covering everything in darkness. This time I looked down at my own hands to see I was a dark pulsing grey and I seemed to be doing the opposite of glowing. As If I sucked up the light that came near me. For nights I watched this entity consume my home, always waking up when the glowing earth was gone and I was consumed along with it, and eventually I thought to look up.” She stopped to think, looking down at her hands that were now neatly clasped on the table. 

Dave raised an eyebrow, appearing more interested now than ever, and poked the air in her direction with a potato laden fork, prompting her to continue. “Well?? What’d you see?” 

“I saw an enormous, ravenous maw opening, it was lined with rows of large sharp teeth, dripping noxious ink. As I was looking away the tendrils consuming the earth came up to wrap around me as in the first few dreams, which is when I woke up.” She sipped the last of her tea and put the mug aside. 

Jemma came up and pointed to their cups about to speak, but Dave pushed them towards her and said “Refills please”. Jemma nodded and took them away.

Rose smiled at Jemma before she left, and then looked right at Dave, which she realized she hadn’t been doing most of the time she had been talking. “This will sound insane, but from that point on I began to see the tendrils reaching our from the darker shadows in the forest towards me. But not only that, they seemed to be whispering to me, but in a language I can not place, though i could understand. It was guteral and inhuman, I doubt we could approximate it with our own mouths with any degree of accuracy. The dreams started to take on a more graphic, but situational quality. Most of the time, my feet were flat on the ground, I was doing something, or there were other people, or other situations. At some point I wondered if they may be prophetic, but if they are it is purely symbolic, as a flaming cityscape and the flash of steel could hardly be specific and exact.” 

Rose paused when she noticed Dave go miraculously paler than he was before, the light flush that constantly dusted his cheeks was gone, and his mouth was slightly agape. He closed his mouth and cleared his throat. “Say that again? You had a dream about, uhh, fire?”

She nodded carefully, watching for a reaction. “Yes I did.”

“Describe it. Everything you can remember.” Daves mouth was set into a hard line, a crease forming between his eyebrows.

“I hung in the sky above a cityscape too big to be real, and buildings towered far higher than they should. The sky was blood red, fading darker as it went up, and the entire city was burning high. I could feel the heat from my spot in the heavens, it lifted my hair and clothes and the smoke burned my eyes. With a flash of bright metal, like the clashing of swords, I was on a roof top. The heat was unbearable, it felt as if I was in an oven being cooked alive, but I turned around and looked up to see that infernal maw opening slowly, black tendrils reaching down to the city. It all went black much quicker than the last few times, and a hand gripped my arm, with whoever it was whispering something in my ear and disappearing into the darkness.” Daves mouth was open again at this point, the potatoes on his plate forgotten and cold. “I regret that I do not remember what they had to say, though it seemed important. It sounded like a promise.”

“That’s… Rose that’s freaky, and this is probably freak factor times six and you probably wont believe me but like I’ve been having that exact dream for the past month. But the voice said ‘Find me.’ in my case. That’s not exactly a promise.” He worried at the cuff of his hoodie and then pressed the side of his fingers to his mouth like he was praying. 

Rose blinked a few times. This was certainly not expected, perhaps this is what she was meant to talk to Dave about? “That is strange...” She sighed. “Now I guess I should skip to why I left, I suppose.” Dave nodded and put his hands back on the table. “Simply put, I left because a presence at my back that had carried over from the dreams urged me to. The moment I began to see the shadowy tentacles in my waking life, I packed a bag, and fled. And I suppose, to a lesser degree, I also left due to a pull, though mostly I felt the need to escape, the pull was… is merely a method of escape, at this juncture.”

“A bunch a’ bad dreams an’ a spooky feeling made ya’ pack up and fuck off through the forest only for ya’ to end up in a shady hotel with a guy who had the same dreams who left for… similar reasons.” Dave shook his head. “You’re right this does sound batshit fuckin crazy.”

Rose tilted her head. “Similar reasons? Do explain.”

He sighed. “Yeah I guess I walked inta that. Not so much somethin’ I needed to escape from, at least not anythin’ mystical, but more so a pull, somethin’ I needed to go and do. The voice that said “Find me” in the dreams? Guess that’s what I needed to do. Find ‘em. Brought my punk ass all the way from Houston Texas to this town in the fuckin’ asscrack of nothin’ Oregon and like, when I’m restin’ I cant feel the pull so much, guess my shit nuts brain accepts that a guys gotta rest his head every now and then, but the whole time I’m on the road its like some sort of unrest.” He went quiet for a moment. “Shit man, if I don’t shut up now I ain’t gonna shut up.”

Rose nodded. “Have you any idea where this pull might be coming from?”

“Not a fuckin’ clue. But… Nah that’s nuts.” he shook his head and leaned back in his chair.

“Dave, I have just told you that I spent days on end walking through the woods alone, barely stopping for so much as sleep, just because a dream and a feeling told me to, and ended up recounting a dream to someone who has had the same one. There is not much you could add that would make the situation any stranger than it is.” she reasoned.

He sighed. “Yeah I guess. I dunno, think is I can’t feel the pull anymore, like at all. I think.. I might’ve found who I was lookin’ for, and I mean with everything it would make a strange kind of sense, but I dunno? I dunno what I was expectin’ but it certainly wasn’t some witch girl in a shirt that… I think used to be white.”

Rose looked down at her shirt. Dave was right, it USED to be white, but now it was a strange shade of tan from the dirt she accumulated in the forest.

Dave tapped impassively at his arm. “You gonna say somethin’? I feel kind of insane it’d be nice to be told I’m either a nutcase or on to somethin’.”

She stood up and stretched. “I think you are on to something here, Dave. Might I suggest we procure you accommodations? It is nearly 1am, and I do not wish to accidentally go over what time we have left.” 

Dave yawned and did the same. “Yeah I guess. Does that mean conversation over? Like, I guess you agree I’m on to somethin’, but I was kind of hopin’ there would be somethin’ to come of it.”

“How would you feel about rooming with me?”

“Wait, what? All of these rooms have like, one room in them except the expensive ones.”

“Yes, I am aware.” Rose said, holding up the key with the room number she had just slipped from her bra. 

“Shit Rose, how much money do ya’ even have? You know ya’ have to pay for an extra person stayin’ for those kind a’ rooms and these kind a’ hotels. The whole ‘x amount of bucks per person per night’ kinda shtick.”

“I am aware of that as well. My question was simply if you would mind rooming with me, not if I knew how much money it would be.”

He shifted. “I guess I wouldn’t hate it. But I dont have much ca-”

Rose cut him off with a hand in a shushing motion. “Do not worry. Come with me.” She walked towards the counter, not looking to see if Dave was following, and rang the little bell once, smiling warmly at Mr. Derse. She placed the bill that Jemma had left on the table with the last refill “Hello Mr. Derse. Could I perhaps pay for our fine meal and for my friend Dave to stay with me in my suite?”

Mr. Derse chuckled and took the receipt, ringing it all up, along with an extra person in the ‘first class’ suite. “Sure thing lil lady. You two hit it off I see, deep in conversation the whole night, didn’t even see Jemma bring ya’ the bill.”

Rose smiled and paid with her credit card. “Yes indeed. He is lovely company, and while we wish to continue conversation, it would feel amiss to occupy this room so close to when you have to close.”

Mr. Derse handed her the receipt and nodded. “Considerate and eloquent.” he looked over Rose’s shoulder at Dave. “This one’s a good one, lad.” he said, offering a wink. When Dave sputtered something along the lines of ‘i just met her’, Mr. Derse chuckled good naturedly and said “Now kiddo I’m only playin’. Here’s your key, write your name on it when ya can in case it gets lost and enjoy!” He looked between the two. “Enjoy your stay kids!”

“Thank you, we will.” Rose said and walked down the hallway to the left, Dave in tow. The trip up the stairs and down the hallway was quiet. The steps were steep and worn, and the banister three shades darker with the grime of age than it probably was when it was installed, and the rugs in the hallways were worn bare in some places. When they reached their room, the only one of two doors on this side of the hall, Rose opened the door and was surprised to see the interior. The rug was new, and the furniture and kitchen area looked much newer and in better repair than the rest of the hotel that she had seen. It was still not the most elegant, but the cleanliness of such a small out of the way place was a welcome surprise. The door was on the left side of the room and to the right there was a blue couch facing away from the opposite wall, a coffee table in front of that, and a small flat screen T.V mounted on the wall. Against the opposite wall against the far left corner was the kitchen area and a large window. There were two doors behind the couch that she assumed were the bedroom and bathroom. She dropped her wallet and key on the coffee table and headed to her bag to get her pyjamas.


	3. Familiar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a friendly face revealed.   
> Years old connections renewed in the face of the unknown.  
> Oozing problems, wear your darkness on your sleeve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is short.

After her trek through the woods, her backpack was mostly empty from her eating the food she had packed. There was a pair of pyjamas, two pairs of underwear, some pants, a skirt, and two shirts, rolled neatly in the bottom. Her computer was in there too, along with her journal and pen, and violin strapped to the back. In the front pocket there was a toothbrush, toothpaste, a small travel bottle of shampoo, one of conditioner, a comb, and a stick of deoderant. This was all she had in the world, at least with her. But she wasn’t expecting to go home, and had said her goodbyes to everything else already. 

While she was sorting through her bag looking for her pyjamas and toiletries, Dave had made himself at home on the couch, bag tossed unceremoniously on the end he wasn’t sitting on. He reached over and picked up the key rose had left on the coffee table and examined the card. “Hey… Rose?”

“Yes Dave?” she responded without looking up from her bag.

“This says Lalonde. As in like, that’s your actual last name?” 

She sat back on her heels and looked towards Dave, who was peeking at her over the back of the couch. “Yes, Lalonde is my real last name. Why?” she raised an eyebrow at him.

His face split into a grin and he pulled his shades off, hanging them off the neck his hoodie. “Damn Lalonde I always thought you were the most observant out of us all, but I guess not. Nice to finally meet ya’, TentacleTherapist.” 

Rose opened her mouth in confusion, wondering how Dave knew her online username, eyebrows knitting together, before she gasped. Standing up quickly, she stared at Dave and pointed. “You! TG! I have not spoken to you in years!” 

Dave dangled his arms over the back of the couch and barked a laugh. “Yeah, man, whatever happened with that? Like, me you Jade n’ John went from talkin’ almost every day to barely talkin’ at all, ‘till one day I just” he shrugged “never heard back from ya’.”

Rose sighed. Truthfully, she did not know. She had loved her friends, and still thinks of them from time to time. They had been her best friends for years, obviously she thought fondly of them. But as to why they lost contact? She couldn’t be sure. She shrugged “I suppose life just got in the way.”. 

Dave clicked his tongue. “Yeah I guess. Guess it sorta got in the way for me too, honestly.”

After a few moments of silence rose gathered up her pyjamas and toothbrush. “Well, I am going to have a shower, I have not had one in days and I feel disgusting. Feel free to watch T.V or sleep, I think the couch is a pull out bed, or if you prefer, the bedroom is through uhh..” She opened one of the doors, revealing the bathroom. “...That door”

Dave tilted his head too far back to look at her, knocking his head against the wall. “...ow” he said flatly and half-heartedly rubbed his head. “Yeah sure. You can have the bed though, I prefer a view of the door. AND all the T.V I can handle.”

“Whatever you prefer.” She said closing the bathroom door behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates will be slow. Bear with me, i hope you have enjoyed it so far.


End file.
